Well, if the entire budget is supposed to be used than I'd say wait until Socket 2011 comes out and build then. Mainly so that the OP is fully current and the wait won't be that long - in my opinion its a short enough one to hold out due to the performance increase that will be there.

If you build now, Find a 2600k build and go to town if you want pure performance. If you wait until September hold off for the Bulldozer benchmarks and make the decision then as no one is *really* sure if it will be better than the current Intel platform - no matter what you do there is always going to be something better & faster on the horizon.

There are some things you could start collecting for the new build now - case, memory, some of the watercooling parts (pump, barbs, clamps, etc). if you wanted to but it really depends on what you set on building.

I'm not sure on how reliable superbiiz is on their "ships in x days" type sales, however if you'll only be needing 8gb memory, I'd go ahead and order 2x Super Talent WS220UX4G8 kits as they seem to be the best timings @ 2000+ mhz without any budget restrictions.

Okay, I am really leaning towards two 6990s (Quad-CF) unless they are not available, and in that case I might just wait for Southern Islands. Microstutter in Quad SLI/CF is probably just a way exaggerated issue anyways (if it even exists or is noticeable at all).

Thanks for the recommendations so far everyone.

Dual GPU cards are not worth it at this budget, If you seriously want the best then get 4-way sli 580 3GB on EVGA's 1155 board, If you can wait for LGA2011 then that would give you the best performance, but honestly waiting can always be justified for just a little longer
For everyone suggesting AMD I think you just dont seem to get that AMDs strengths lie in their bang for buck and cool chips, intel wallops them in pure performance

I've noticed that the Case Labs TH10 was mentioned on this thread, but how about the Case Labs M8? Would it be big enough for my Tri-CF (or possibly Quad-CF) system? How does it compare to the Mountain Mods U2 UFO? Which has better build quality?

I've noticed that the Case Labs TH10 was mentioned on this thread, but how about the Case Labs M8? Would it be big enough for my Tri-CF (or possibly Quad-CF) system? How does it compare to the Mountain Mods U2 UFO? Which has better build quality?

Thanks.

MM cases do not compare to CL Cases at all. I have a MM and a CL, and I can promise you that the difference is night and day. The build quality with CL is exceptional! Just my 2 cents.